Athirath Devo Bhava
A heavy name like “Athirath” might make you paint a world of complex possibilities in your head, but this place can potentially represent the “Simple, yet effective” phrase.
After we put ourselves through the ride that is “Athirath Restaurant & Bar”, we realized that we use the term ‘Shady’ very loosely. It’s like calling a porn star a slut, because that’s how fucked up we have become as a race. So then, it all comes down to how one defines ‘Shady’, with reference to a bar.
If ‘Shady’ means a place which is dimly lit, then the Irish House’s and the Bar Stock Exchange’s of the world are also shady bars. But if shady means dubious and questionable, then we don’t know about Irish and Bar Stock, but there’s nothing dubious about Athirath. What’s questionable though is the in-your-face Royal Challenge branding just outside the entrance of this bar.
Yellow street lights can really provide aesthetic feels at night. Athirath benefits from a brightly lit street light just atop its head on a narrow by-lane, which slopes down and eventually leads to Andheri Railway Station, lending the place some character.
This is a cheap bar, and by that we mean a bar which serves food and alcohol at comfortingly low prices. We’ve visited a lot of cheap bars in this city. Athirath, though, was the first that had the audacity to make us stand in a ‘waiting’ queue on a god damn weekday. Now that was new. It might provide you scope to introspect about your own life, if nothing else. There has to be a compelling reason for you to ‘wait’ to enter an Athirath. If we didn’t wait, who would’ve brought these muddled musings to you?
The layout of this place is anything but complex, with an outside seating preceding a seemingly buzzing inside seating, making you want to experience the inside seating a lot more.
Athirath overflows with drunk men indulging in drunk conversations. The profile of these men may vary from drunk college going kid, to drunk mid-aged working professional to drunk frustrated old man. These guys cater to a diverse audience, in that sense.
The walls of the interiors are neat and have an interesting brown-white pattern emerging for the tipsy eye, making you give them an appreciative look or two. However, Athirath may have to re-think its in-bar entertainment. You have an idiot box, that doesn’t mean you subject us to idiots throwing up news on Aaj Tak. How hard is it to just switch to a music channel. if nothing else?
Their menu boats of Mughlai, Chinese and wait for it, “Sea Food” at tempting prices, but we weren’t brave enough to give our buds the taste of Athirath’s kitchen. But how can we not talk about the Boiled Chana in a place like this. Their Boiled Chana is ‘masaledaar’, much like some of the loud “We don’t give a rat’s arse” conversations you are repeatedly subjected to…
Situated not too far from Andheri Railway on the crowded western side, we won’t be surprised if those drunk AF souls who pass out in late night Mumbai locals are Athirath regulars.
Where? Vitthalbhai Patel Rd, Lohana Colony, Andheri West
